Kwan, 37, a former Miss Hong Kong contestant in the 1980s, sighed with relief and broke into tears after Mr Wyeth ordered her immediate release. Outside court, Kwan said she felt relieved but refused to say whether she would appeal. 'I just want to go home now and I truly thank my friends for their support,' Kwan said.

Many of her celebrity friends, who filled the court to capacity to show their support, said they were happy with the sentence. Among them was actor Tony Leung Ka-fai.

Kwan and her friend, Kevin Wong Chi-chung, 34, a finance analyst, were found guilty of a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of public justice, which they both denied. Kwan had earlier pleaded guilty to drink-driving and another count of careless driving.

Besides the jail term, she was fined $6,000 and lost her driver's licence for nine months.

Prosecutor Giles Surman had earlier said the offences arose out of a minor accident early on November 20 last year, in which Kwan reversed her Lexus into another car on Sing Woo Road, Happy Valley.

Kwan then swapped seats with Wong before the police arrived. Wong claimed he was behind the wheel of the Lexus. Kwan initially remained silent but later admitted being the driver.

In sentencing, Mr Wyeth said yesterday it was not clear what the pair were trying to achieve by switching drivers as both were licensed to drive and both were drunk. Mr Wyeth said he had taken into account the defence submission that the offence was not pre-mediated and that both defendants were previously of good character.

'I accepted it was an isolated incident that involved very poor judgment,' he said.

Barrister Ching Y. Wong SC, for Kwan, submitted several letters pleading for leniency. The letters said Kwan was active in voluntary work, especially with cancer-stricken children.